Migrants and Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa

Catalog description

This course investigates the history of mass movement within and out of the Middle East, the Balkans, and North Africa from the late nineteenth century to the present day. We will examine multiple manifestations of such movement: emigration and reverse emigration, forced population transfers and exchanges, the making of refugee communities and their movements around the region, and the influence of diaspora communities on political, social, and economic movements in the homeland. As well as investigating the role migrants and refugees have had in the making of the modern Middle East, this course will give students the opportunity to engage with major issues surrounding diaspora, transnationalism, and citizenship, as well as broad historical questions of identity and belonging.